Tennessee's 83-76 victory over Louisiana-Lafayette on Tuesday night didn't follow the script.

It was supposed to be the Vols' quickness against the Ragin' Cajuns' size.

Instead, it was Tennessee's front line and Louisiana-Lafayette's backcourt doing most of the damage for the respective teams.

Andre Patterson, a 6-foot-7 post player, led the Vols with a career-high 21 points, showing off an arsenal of baseline moves in addition to his usual put-back baskets.

Major Wingate, UT's 6-10 starter at center, also had a good game. Wingate, who spent two nights rehabilitating his foot in the training room after injuring it in Sunday night's practice, had 12 points and blocked three shots.

In fact, the Vols blocked eight shots while the Ragin' Cajuns failed to block any.

"Our bigs stepped up, they really did,'' UT coach Bruce Pearl said. "It's important we can win fast and win slow. Louisiana-Lafayette struggled against our press, but they never got uptempo, and we aren't athletic enough or deep enough to force them.''

Tennessee's lack of size did play a factor in one respect: The Ragin' Cajuns out-rebounded the Vols 50-32 and had 18 offensive rebounds.

Perhaps more alarming was that a 6-5 guard, Auburn transfer Dwayne Mitchell, did most of the damage on the boards, pulling down 20 rebounds - one shy of the Thompson-Boling Arena record.

The Vols were led by 6-2 guard Chris Lofton, who had seven rebounds. Wingate, meanwhile, had just three rebounds and is averaging 2.5 per game through the first two games.

Pearl's concerned, but also relieved that UT has found ways to win its first two games.

"The halfcourt game is where we're having our greatest struggles,'' he said. "It's satisfying we could hold on and win that game.''

Question is, how many more games can the Vols hold on and win playing out of character?

UT plays host to Eastern Kentucky on Friday. Game time is 7:30 p.m.

Eastern Kentucky (1-2), the defending Ohio Valley Conference champions, recently returned from the U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam.

While in St. Thomas, the Colonels beat Norfolk State 67-60 and dropped contests to Georgia (76-68) and Wisconsin (95-89, 2OT).

Eastern Kentucky set a school mark with 22 wins last season and played in the NCAA tournament, losing to Kentucky 72-64 in the first round.